Honey Mustard Crock Pot Chicken

I saw a very delicious looking dinner being made over at fellow food enthusiast Capitol to Capitol a while back. She skinned a whole chicken and put it in the crock pot...whole. I'd never seen that before. Removing the skin has so many benefits. First, no one wants to eat chicken skin that isn't crispy, which it won't be if you cook it in the crock pot. Also, the skin is the fatty part so removing it makes the dish way healthier so you can eat twice as much. Lastly, it just looked cool. Mark came home with a big ol' chicken and I decided that this was my chance. I actually skinned it the night before and put it back in the fridge, wrapped in plastic. The next morning all I had to do was throw it into the crock pot and leave for work. When I got home, I couldn't get my keys into the door fast enough because the amazing scent of the chicken has made it to the street. I love the hint of mustard and honey and heat from the red pepper flakes. Also, the shredded leftovers are great on a sandwich or heated and sprinkled over spinach leaves for a salad. That way you can mix it up with leftovers and you won't be bored. The chicken is so tender and so flavorful that you will want to make this over and over again. Honey Mustard Crock Pot Chicken
Ingredients:
7 lb. chicken
1 light beer, pilsner, or other fresh-tasting brew (I bet you could use white wine instead)
4 cloves garlic
1 onion
3 Tbs. honey
3 Tbs. whole grain mustard
dash Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

1. Combine all ingredients except the chicken along with 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper in the crock pot base.
2. Whisk them together so that they are evenly distributed and turn the crock pot on low.
3. Skin your chicken. This is an oddly intriguing process. I was skeptical at first, but really it wasn't that bad. It is certainly the most labor intensive part of this dish since afterwards you just plop it into the crock pot and walk away. I used two tools: my kitchen scissors and a sharp knife. This made it much easier. I began by loosening the skin of the breast and using the scissors to basically cut the skin off the bird. You pull the skin off the legs and ignore the wings. They looked too hard to skin anyway.
4. Place the chicken in the crock pot, roll it around in the beer and spices, and let it cook in there all day. I left if cooking all day while I was at work, which was about 8 hours. 5. After which, your chicken will look something like this:
It will be fall off the bone tender and full of flavor.
I served up the legs and one breast for that nights dinner. Then when the rest of the bird was cooled down a bit, I shredded the rest of the chicken and picked out the bones. Then I could easily eat it for lunch at work without needing to use my hands.